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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27409534">People In Graves Sleep Forever</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/pseuds/tabbytabbytabby'>tabbytabbytabby</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Future Fic, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, Hopeful Ending, Memories, Mentioned Malia Tate, Mentioned Scott McCall, Past Character Death, Post-Canon, Reflection, mentioned liam dunbar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:09:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,325</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27409534</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/pseuds/tabbytabbytabby</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Theo reflects on the past when he visits Liam and Malia's graves with his nephew.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Theo Raeken &amp; Original Male Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Death or Worse</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>People In Graves Sleep Forever</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithinkwehaveanemergency/gifts">Ithinkwehaveanemergency</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If anyone would have told Theo this is where he would be at 25, he probably would have laughed in their face or told them to fuck off. Probably both. The thought would have seemed too out there to him. Too unbelievable. </p><p>Not the deaths, certainly. For years he’d been surrounded by it. So much that it barely phased him anymore. At last for a time.</p><p>Then Liam happened. And for the first time in a long time Theo had something he could lose. Someone he loved so much that it would actually hurt him if he was gone. </p><p>“Hey Theo?” a small voice says, as its owner tugs on his sleeve.</p><p>Theo wipes at his eyes and looks down at him. It’s weird looking down at this little boy, and seeing someone so different from the man he was named after. His dark eyes match his hair, and he has the same crooked smile as his father. </p><p>The name had been a way to honor their fallen friend, but to Theo it had been just another reminder of the one he lost. The man he loved. The hole in his life that he’ll never be able to fill. It had taken him too long to even be able to look at the boy. To be able to hear his name and not flinch. Especially to be able to say it and have it not feel wrong somehow.</p><p>“Yeah Liam?”</p><p>"People in graves are sleeping forever, right?"</p><p>Theo inhales sharply, as a noise that’s half laugh, half sob forces its way out of him. “What?”</p><p>“Their eyes are closed,” Liam says. “Like when they’re sleeping. Except they don’t wake up. So it’s like they’re sleeping forever. Does that mean they dream too?”</p><p>“I guess so,” Theo says. He’d like to believe Liam, his Liam, is somewhere dreaming. Foolishly he hopes it’s of him.</p><p>“I bet Liam is dreaming good dreams,” Liam says, nodding to himself. “Daddy always says he was nice. And nice people deserve good dreams.”</p><p>Theo swallows back the sob building in his throat and wipes hastily at his eyes. He hadn’t been thinking when he brought his nephew here. They’d just been driving by and Liam asked if he could visit his mom. Who was Theo to deny him? He knows it’s still hard on Scott to come to Malia’s grave. The wound is still too raw even after the four years she’s been gone, having died in childbirth. </p><p>They’d lost so much that year. First Parrish was killed on a bad call, something the Sheriff still blames himself for. He’d had to be the one to call Derek to give him the news that his boyfriend had been killed. Argent and Deaton had been killed not even a month after that when Monroe’s people had kidnapped and tortured them for information on the back. Information they hadn’t given up, and it had cost them their lives.</p><p>And then Liam….</p><p>It’s still hard for Theo to think about what happened to him. How a good night could take such a disastrous turn. Theo still remembers walking into the house after work that night, the smell of marinara sauce still heavy in the air, but mixed with something awful. Blood. Theo had stumbled his way into the kitchen to Liam lying there on his back, his eyes staring lifelessly at the ceiling. </p><p>There was a note attached to him by the blade of the same knife that killed him. A taunt from Monroe “And down goes another.” Theo hadn’t given her a chance to hurt anyone else. He couldn’t risk her going after Scott or Malia, not with them having a child on the way. </p><p>So he’d hunted her down, spending weeks on the road, following every trail he could, until he’d found her just outside of New York City. She’d been following Derek, her next target. Theo had not given her a chance to reach him. He wishes sometimes he’d dragged it out, made her suffer more. It’s what she deserved after all the pain she caused. But he’d been so full of rage and grief. The only thing that mattered was seeing her die. He didn’t even get much pleasure out of watching the life leave her eyes, only relief that she couldn’t hurt anyone else. </p><p>Theo had returned home a week later, planning to tell Scott and Malia they didn’t have to worry anymore. They were safe. </p><p>But life was twisted, and he’d walked in to the news that Malia was dead. Scott was holding a screaming baby, looking lost and anguished. He wasn’t going to get any relief from the news. Not with Malia gone. But Theo could at least assure him his son would be safe. In more ways than one. </p><p>He’d stuck around, feeling a duty to the kid he couldn’t understand. He only knew Liam would want him to help Scott, to not leave him alone in his grief with a newborn son. So even when Theo couldn’t look at the baby, he was still there. Helping Scott change diapers and feed him, taking turns waking when the kid did so Scott could get some sleep. He didn’t have much experience with kids, but neither did Scott. All they could do was their best, and so they had. </p><p>The last four years haven’t been the easiest on any of them, but they’ve been safe. Safer than Theo can ever remember feeling. It’s a relief as much as it is sad. A relief because little Liam doesn’t have to grow up in a dangerous world. Sad because the people they want here the most can’t be. </p><p>But they still keep their memory alive. They make sure Liam knows all about the uncle he was named after. That he knows his mother, even if she can’t be with him. They tell stories and show him pictures and videos of all the people missing, the ones that would have loved him so much had they been here. </p><p>Theo knows it’s as much for them as it is for the kid. At first it had been hard talking about Liam, but after a while he realized he needed to. He needed to talk about Liam. He needed him to live on in some way. And with time it got a little easier to talk about him.</p><p>That doesn’t mean there aren’t hard days. There always will be. He’s never going to be okay with the fact that Liam isn’t here with him. That he was taken from him too soon before they could even really start their lives together. But he knows Liam wouldn’t want him to wallow in his grief. He’d want him to keep living. So he does his best, little by little every day.</p><p>“You know what I think,” Theo says, looking down at the little boy next to him. “I think Liam and your mom are both dreaming about you.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Liam asks.</p><p>Theo smiles and ruffles his hair, “Yeah.”</p><p>“I think they’re dreaming that we should get ice cream,” Liam says.</p><p>Theo laughs, “Oh really? Are you sure that’s not just <em>your</em> dream?”</p><p>“It can be both,” Liam says seriously.</p><p>And yeah, maybe there is a little bit of his namesake in him after all. “I suppose we could get some ice cream,” Theo tells him. He takes his hand and leads him back towards where his truck is parked. He looks back towards the graves as he goes and his steps falter when he sees two familiar faces smiling at them. He blinks, and then they’re gone almost as if they were never there. It must have been in his head. Something Theo had wanted to see.</p><p>“I told you they’d want us to get ice cream,” Liam whispers.</p><p>Theo takes a deep breath and turns back towards his truck. Maybe he wasn’t imagining things after all. “Yeah buddy. I guess you were right.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! Kudos/comments make my day 💜<br/>You can find me <a href="http://tabbytabbytabby.tumblr.com/">here on tumblr</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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